The decision by the Minister for Justice and Law Reform, Dermot Ahern TD, not to reopen Harristown House as a treatment centre for people with addiction problems has been described by Mayo Fine Gael TD John O’Mahony as a major blow to many young Mayo people.
Harristown House was closed last October and a review of its operations and the need for a residential facility dealing with addiction issues was implemented. Earlier this week, Deputy Ahern told Dep O’Mahony that the review was completed and it had indicated that it was not proposed to open a new addiction treatment facility at Harristown House.
According to Dep O’Mahony the move is a major blow to Mayo people who have availed of the services in the centre and those who would do so in the future. “In an ideal world there would be no need for a centre such as Harristown House but, unfortunately, that ideal world does not exist,” he said. “We have many people with addiction problems here in Mayo and the treatment programme at Harristown House offered them hope. Now, that has been taken away.
“The Minister said that the work that was carried out in Harristown House would now be undertaken by the Probation Service, but that service is already overstretched. What we are seeing here is another example of cutbacks that are affecting the most vulnerable people.
“It cost in the region of €465,000 to run Harristown House for one year while it costs €100,000 to keep someone in prison for the same time. This decision will only see more people being sent to prison instead of receiving treatment for their problems. It’s not particularly well thought out and even at this late stage I’m calling on Minister Ahern to reconsider,” he said.
